It's Poetry in Motion
by Lolita-Lollipops
Summary: At a sleepover with his teammates, Nanase Haruka ponders the allure of the midnight hours, and maybe also Rei.


"Okay, Rin-chan, it's your turn." Nagisa looked earnestly at Rin, who sat directly across from him.

"Hmm…" Rin scratched his chin, deciding who to pick.

"Makoto."

"Yeah?" Makoto spoke from where he was lying down, his head resting on Rin's lap.

"Truth or dare?"

Makoto rubbed his eyes. "Dare…?" He yawned. It made sense that he was tired; the clock on Haru's desk blinked a yellow-ish-green 2:16 AM. The stars were out in full right now, outside Haru's window. Haru could see them. In fact, he had been observing them for at least the past fifteen minutes, while his teammates – both former and present – played an impromptu game of Truth-or-Dare.

"I dare you to balance all those soda cans on your head." Rin declared, a haughty expression on his face as he pointed to the small pile that had accumulated over the night's activities.

Makoto sat up. "Ehh? I take it back, I want truth!"

Nagisa, Rin, and Rei all cracked up at this.

"No, it's too late now, Makoto-senpai. You asked for it," Rei said with a smile, gathering up the pile and handing it to a dejected Makoto.

"Ugh, alright," Makoto sighed, causing Nagisa to burst into another round of giggles for some reason.

Haru really couldn't blame him. It _was_ late, after all, and common sense did tend to go in another direction once the sun set. It was the allure of the evening. Some would call it night fever.

Haru considered this as Makoto tried and failed to balance the soda cans on his head. Rin amended his dare to one soda can, which, after a few tries, Makoto was able to do. Haru clapped along with the rest of his teammates as Makoto set the can down and laid back down on Rin's lap.

"Now you have to choose someone, Mako-chan," Nagisa said, still mirthful from the soda can dare.

"Hmm, then I think I'll choose you," Makoto said with a cheeky smile. Rin snorted at him. Makoto responded with a wink.

"Okay! Dare!" Nagisa clapped his hands twice, obviously ready for whatever mischief Makoto (and, to an extent, Rin) had to conduct.

"_You_ try balancing all the cans on your head," Makoto dared in a sneaky tone of voice.

Nagisa scoffed, and with an easy tone of voice, exclaimed,

"Piece of cake!" and began collecting all the fallen soda cans from Makoto's previous failures.

Haru watched in amusement as Nagisa began balancing cans on his head. He had never seen Nagisa sit so still before, and as the cans piled higher and higher, so did everyone else.

When Nagisa got to seven, it felt like everyone in the room was holding their breath.

Nagisa, holding the last can, reached up with shaky hands, but the tower of cans fell before he could finish the dare.

"Ugh, darn it!" He exclaimed, soda cans littered around him, and the situation was just so funny that Haru burst out laughing.

Everyone looked at Haru in shock for a moment, but one by one, they were all laughing too, drunk off the late night sky.

"Okay, okay, it's my turn," Nagisa coughed out, still laughing a little.

Eventually, everyone quieted. (Except for Makoto, who was giggling quietly into his pajama sleeve.)

"Rei-chan," Nagisa said seriously, and Rei, sitting next to Nagisa, jumped a little.

"Y-yes?" He stuttered out, adjusting his glasses.

"Truth or dare?"

Rei swallowed. Haru watched his adam's apple bob.

"Dare," Rei said, his voice shaking slightly.

Briefly, Haru wondered why Rei was acting so jumpy. Earlier, when dared, he had been excited, ready to perform his dare in "the most beautiful way." Oftentimes, because of this, his dares had been notoriously un-beautiful things. The last one he had done, for example, was to spray a whole can of whipped cream into his mouth.

Most of it had ended up on his face.

If Haru had been required to tell the truth right then, he would have said it was cute.

Nagisa, who had been considering his dare the whole time (Haru wondered what crazy, un-beautiful thing Nagisa was going to make Rei do) finally spoke up.

"I dare you to kiss…on the mouth! The person in this room that you find most beautiful."

Rei flushed, and Rin raised an eyebrow.

"Oi, isn't that going a little far, Nagisa?"

"N-no, it's fine!" Rei spoke up, and everyone in the room looked to him.

"Just! Everyone… close your eyes, please?" Rei's voice petered out at the end, a flush high on his cheekbones.

Haru complied, closing his eyes, wondering who Rei was going to kiss.

Probably Nagisa, they had such a strong bond as friends. It would make sense for Rei to find him beautiful. Or Rin. Since Rei had learned so much about swimming from him, he would obviously want to pay him back…in some way?

Confused by his own thoughts, Haru brushed them aside as he heard the floor creak as Rei presumably got up.

It felt like time had stopped for a moment, as Haru was listening, waiting to hear soft kissing noises. Who was he going to kiss?

The floor creaked again, and Haru felt a presence in front of him.

Wait,

…

what?

Haru tried to talk, to ask Rei _why_, why him? But his voice seemed stuck in his throat and it sure didn't help that his heart had begun a fast-tapping rhythm in his chest, so all Haru could do was swallow as Rei's breath fanned out over his right cheek and a hesitant thumb brushed against his cheek and Haru wanted to open his eyes, see what face Rei was making right now.

Haru heard Rei swallow, it was loud in his ear, and Haru sucked in a breath, feeling his face flush in spite of himself.

'Just kiss me already…!' Haru thought desperately, hands twitching where they were planted firmly on the floor.

And Rei did.

_Way_ off center.

His kiss landed on the corner of Haru's mouth, and in frustration, Haru reached up and grabbed Rei's face with both hands, guiding Rei's lips to his own.

Rei made a little humming note of surprise that Haru _felt_, and if Haru wasn't blushing before, he was now. Rei's hand curled into Haru's hair, and Haru shivered a little, pressing closer to Rei.

Haru broke the kiss, a soft 'smack' echoing around the silent room. Haru opened his eyes to meet Rei's own sharp ones.

Rei blinked a couple of times, a sensitive look on his face. Haru smiled softly and gestured that he should go back to his seat on the floor. Rei nodded, licked his lips, and got up slowly, the floor creaking under his weight.

"Y-you can open your eyes now," Rei mumbled, and Haru watched as everyone but Makoto opened their eyes.

"Hey." Rin said, poking at Makoto's cheek. Makoto sighed out a word, then snuggled more into Rin's lap.

"He fell asleep," Nagisa said in wonder.

"W-well, it is 2:31 in the morning. It makes sense," Rei surmised, adjusting his glasses with shaky hands.

Nagisa yawned. "You know what, I'm feeling sleepy, too."

Then it was sleepy chaos, for Makoto had to be awoken in order for Rin to grab his sleeping bag, and Rei couldn't figure out how to open up his own sleeping bag, and Haru could only sit there, pondering the allure of the late-night sky, understanding fully why people craved it so much, all of a sudden.

He locked gazes with Rei.

Rei blushed, blinking his eyes prettily.

Haru sighed a little, then walked over to help him with his sleeping bag.

Later, when everyone else had fallen asleep, Rei would whisper to Haru:

"Haru?"

"Mmm?"

"Can I talk to you after swimming practice on Monday? There's…something that I need to tell you."

"Hmm."

Rei would let out a relieved breath. "Good."

And the sun would rise as Haru would fall asleep.


End file.
